Monday, May 25, 2009

friday fingerprints and other stuff

This post contains lots of stuff that may not be very interesting, but it's nice to look back and see when things happened. I'll pepper it with pictures to keep your attention. Or you can just look at the pictures...I'll never know! :)
On Friday we got up early (very early) to head up to the USCIS (Immigration) office in Durham. We got there shortly after they opened and Silas charmed everyone within reach of us. He always does. Met two other adoptive families. One is praying for twins from China and the other a daughter from Nepal. As I looked around the room, I was so impressed with the people sitting and waiting. What courage it must take to travel to a country, possibly not speak or understand the language, and try to make a new life for yourself and your family. As a American born citizen, even I felt a little stressed there...metal detectors, no smiles, don't want to make a wrong step, etc. I'm just saying, I have respect for those who are here and brave the Immigration office that is very intimidating. Would I do that for my family? For a better life? I know what it's like to be in a country where you understand just snippets of the language, but I had the safety of Little America and it was my choice to walk out of that comfort zone.
All went well. We both got fingerprinted and hopefully our I-171H form will come in a timely manner. That is basically our permission slip to bring two orphans into the US.
After that we stopped at Chick-fil-A for some breakfast (did I mention we got up really early?) and ended up eating in the parking lot. I stood at Silas' door and fed him. He was pointing up at the sky between bites and when I finally looked up I saw that he had been pointing at a beautiful rainbow. It was the most circular rainbow I've ever seen. Reminded me of the last time we saw a rainbow...


Then we continued on to visit with our Social Worker. We did our 12 month post placement visit with her and let the kids play together. She's been in our home so much lately with the home study that we were given permission to meet outside the home. And we were in the neighborhood. We like to make the most of our time. Time spent with her is always good.

On our way home we stopped by the outlet mall and Silas got his first pair of crocs since his feet are always getting wet. I don't think I've ever laid eyes on anything cuter.
Now we take pictures of the house and get some passport sized photos taken and along with that I171-H form I mentioned above and all of the other paperwork we've been gathering, notarizing and certifying.....that there will be a completed dossier. Ole! Oh and I finished my Hague training tonight and Marshall has to do his 8 HOURS. Sorry honey.

And last, but not least...do you see that pepper? It's a real, live pepper! In my garden. Double Ole!

Monday, May 18, 2009

busy, busy (means lots of pictures!)

My boy is growing UP! He's taken over MY water bottle. He's getting so verbal and just big. He understands so much more than I think he does. I tell him what we're going to do next and he goes for it. Every day there is something new and exciting. He recognizes himself in the mirror or a picture and yells, "Si Si"!! He's says Sophie, water, cheese, uh oh, bye, go, shoes, car, good girl....etc. Daily he brings me his shoes, his hat and my shoes to go outside. I think we could live outside. Silas is sooo sweet and he's also head strong. He knows what he wants and he's learning how to tell us what it is. Prime example: When I'm not looking in the right direction, he puts his hand on my face and moves it in the correct direction. He insists that we take turns with the water bottle too. Two seconds of sippage for him and then it's in my mouth before I know it. I'm just glad he doesn't share his milk. He's also doing really well in the church/MOPS nursery. That thrills my soul! And I've enjoyed some good church lately.

The last couple weeks have been busy, busy. I feel like the social director on the cruise ship, Daddy is Bye Bye. Almost home, but we've filled our days to make time pass quickly. We had a day at the lake with the Dragovich's and Schmidt's. We went to Raleigh to have documents certified at the Secretary of State and at the same time went with Candy and Henry to Marbles Kid's Museum (they give a military discount). That same day we got to see the Cordell's. Also got to spend an evening with Germany friends...one family is here with us and the other family is here visiting...it is such a small world.

Adoption #2 Update: As mentioned before, we got our NC documents certified in Raleigh. We received our fingerprint letters so on Friday we're spending the day in Raleigh to get our fingerprints done at USCIS and then meet with our social worker for our 12 month Post Placement visit for Silas. After the fingerprints are processed they will send us our I171-H and that's the last document we need for our dossier. I need to take some pictures of the house and us, but that's no biggie. And we forgot about this online course we have to take...details. I'm not sure how long we'll wait this time. I figured I would wait until we turned in our "paper baby" before I asked our Family Coordinator. I'll let you know...

Here are some pictures of our adventures...

Watch out ladies....here I come!

Sometimes we move so fast we need a little rest on the kitchen floor...

Or perhaps a little rest in the dog's bed...

Marbles Kid's Museum He'll be driving before we know it.

Silas and his buddy Henry...they were delivering packages.

Moooooooo. He pulled the cow out of the stall and laid on it and patted it.

Being sweet to a baby in the hospital section.

They call me the fireman...he wasn't very interested because he saw...

a HUGE fish tank!

And a boat. I couldn't believe he climbed right in with these school kids on a field trip. It's like he's saying, "Excuse me ladies. I've got this one under control."

Water!

Henry is so stinkin' cute!

In conclusion, we've had some fun lately!
Thanks for checking in!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

what's for dinner?

A Silas Sandwich and a side of Sophie
(I really crack myself up!)



UPDATE: YOU DID IT! We raised all $12,500 as of this morning. Thanks to everyone who made this happen. We'll keep this post up for now and send you additional details on this project. Thank you Thank you! We can now provide 400 cans of Nutramigen to malnourished babies in Ethiopia.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

once upon a time

Once upon a time there was a tiny baby boy. He lived in a beautiful, far away land called Ethiopia. This baby boy was so tiny that when he moved from his orphanage to the adoption agency's Transition Home, the nannies were afraid he would break.

There was one nanny that wasn't afraid to touch him. She took him as her own and took very good care of him, helping him to gain weight and develop. Without God supplying the orphanage, Transition Home, and special nanny, this baby boy would not have survived.
The tiny baby boy's name was Mezmur. Silas Mezmur.

Today, one year later, that baby boy is a thriving toddler.

Right now at that same Transition Home are babies just like Silas. They are coming in from areas of Ethiopia that have been ravaged by famine and there is no guarantee of survival.

These babies could have been Silas.

These babies could be our children.

These babies are God's children. We can do something!

I want to add that the pictures we have of Silas are well after he had been in our agency's care. The situation for the children, currently, is dire. Thanks to this family for connecting Tom Davis with America World. I think this is a picture of watching God's will unfold and what obedience to his nudges can bring.

Friday, May 1, 2009

strawberries

Yesterday we went on a strawberry picking outing with our MOPS group. I'm sort of tired of always running late so we left plenty early. And we got there thirty minutes earlier than everyone else that met at the church parking lot.
So we got to pickin'.
And lickin'

It doesn't take long to fill a basket when the strawberries are this plentiful!
Silas got bored so he played in the dirt. The group had arrived by now and we played in the dirt while they picked berries.
Then we took our sack lunch up the street to the park and started swingin'.
And lickin'...
And then I said, "Daddy!" and got this smile. He loves his daddy!
Adoption Take 2 Update:
I want with my whole heart to wait gracefully this time. I don't want to be an obsessive mess. It's a matter of prayer. I think I told you about the "whoops we forgot the TX background check and Child Abuse Clearance" last week. We got the background check paperwork off with no problem and then our social worker helped us figure out the direction to go to get our Child Abuse Clearances. It is a free service with one form that happens to need a notarized signature. One problem. Marshall was out of town. Another problem....it could take 30 days to process. Yet another problem. We're on a tight schedule, folks. Of course God was not surprised by all of this. I looked in our important stuff and found a Power of Attorney and there is an angel in that Texas office. You see, they are in the process of moving the Child Abuse Clearances to another Unit, but that angel took it upon himself to accept our forms by fax and then did the check himself and got it to us the very. next. day.
Our social worker waited on us Wednesday afternoon to go get several things notarized hoping that our home study could be in that group of paperwork being notarized. (How's that for a run on sentence?) I didn't talk to her again to see if she made it to USCIS in Raleigh to turn in our homestudy, but it's either there or will be shortly.
Once the home study is in Raleigh, they will issue us an appointment to go get fingerprinted. Then they will issue us a form that basically gives us permission to bring two orphans home.
We are very close to the Great Wait.
Please pray for me. I don't want to get all caught up in time lines and stress. Last time we waited 3 months for the I-171H (paper from USCIS). Hind sight is 20/20 because obviously we were waiting for Silas. It's hard on the front end when you don't know what you're waiting for.
I do know that these children are worth the wait and we're almost ready to wait.
Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:2-3